


Angels and Demons

by Aitheria_Iah



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Daddy!Spencer, Gen, Season 9 Episode 24, Spencer is a Parent, angels & demons, season 9 episode 23
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:53:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28326372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aitheria_Iah/pseuds/Aitheria_Iah
Summary: Sequel to A Baby Reid. What would it mean for Reid when his life is in danger? What about his daughter? Law enforcement in the family is always a danger. Read and see how Reid handles a case along with being a single dad.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Angels and Demons

**Author's Note:**

> So Henry was born in 2008 and I had the first part say Henry was turning 4 so that means Aisling was born in 2012. Angels and Demons happened in 2014 so Aisling would be two years old. Just to help all of you with the time line.

Spencer couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He had a hard time believing that it had been two years since Aisling was left on his doorstep. He looked into her beautiful caramel brown eyes as she stared up at him lying in bed waiting for him to start reading. “You ready little one?”

“Aye, dada. Pwease wead ‘o me.”

Spencer situated himself next to his daughter he turned to the next chapter of _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ to continue reading. He would point out sections for Aisling to read aloud. Spencer kept an eye on her face and when her eyes fell shut and she didn’t reopen them he gently stood up and put the book on her nightstand. He bent to kiss the top of her head and pulled the quilts up to her shoulders. He left the door slightly ajar so that the room wasn’t completely dark. He never thought he would be where he was. He could never hate that woman for giving him such an amazing daughter. He was sad for Aisling that she probably won’t know her mother but he would do everything in his power to ensure that Aisling had everything she needed.

He made his way down to the kitchen, he noticed that his live in nanny Lorraine “Lori” Hampton. Lori was a thirty-nine woman who had retired from the FBI National Security branch. She understood his desire to help to their country in any way he could and didn’t condemn him for not quitting his job the minute he got custody of his daughter. She was willing to live with them and had the defense training he basically demanded of the applicates, both hand-to-hand as well as weapons training. He never felt any doubt or worry when he left for work knowing that Lori would and could protect his daughter to the best of her physical abilities.

She leaned against the counter top with a mug of coffee in her hands. Another steaming cup sitting innocently next to her. “Thank you.” Spencer said as he lifted the cup to his lips and savored the first sip of his caffeinated sugar-filled beverage life line.

“No problem. I take it she’s asleep?”

“Snoring like her uncle Morgan.” Spencer couldn’t help but smile.

Lori snorted into her coffee before shooting him a glare, “you like to think you’re funny.”

“I’m hilarious thank you very much. Now I should probably get to sleep in case I get an early work call.”

“Good night Spencer, hopefully you won’t get a case too far if you do.”

“Don’t say that. You’ll jinx me.” Spencer called out over his shoulder as he made his way up the stairs.

* * *

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Spencer fought through his sluggish mind to reach out for his phone. “Dr. Spencer Reid.”

“Reid, we got a case so you need to come in as soon as possible.” It was Hotchner.

Spencer couldn’t help but sigh. He checked the clock on his bedside table. It read 11 o’clock. “I’ll be right in.” as he hung up he couldn’t stop a snort, before Aisling he would probably still be up working on something. Well parenthood changes everyone in some way. He made his way through his bed room dressing and grabbing everything that he would need quickly. He quickly called Lori over in the condo/pool house to let her know what was going on before giving Aisling a quick kiss. He grabbed his go bag from beside the door and was on his way.

On his way into the building Spencer ran into Alex. “I hope Aisling wasn’t too upset that you got called in.”

Spencer shook his head, “I had already put her down for bed. I didn’t want to wake her but I made sure that Lori knew to call me when she woke up so I could talk to her.”

The ding of the elevator let them know that they had made it to their floor. Alex sighed, “This again?”

“You miss another flight to see James?” Spencer couldn’t help but ask.

Blake shook her head, “Worse. He came here. He’s cooking and watching “House Hunters” without me.” She huffed out a breath of air, “he better not try to make an offer again.”

They stopped when they noticed that Rossi, Garcia, Morgan were all focused on whatever JJ was saying. “So, we finally get Henry to bed, and you know, we’re about to have some alone time with Mommy and Daddy and … bam! You guys know that rest.” JJ looked disappointed.

Morgan had a sly smile on his face, “ah, trying to dust off the old cobwebs.” He leered at JJ.

Spencer had to chuckle at the sight of Garcia smacking Morgan on the shoulder, and chastise him, “Inappropriate.”

“What?” Morgan laughed.

Garcia rolled her eyes, before turning to JJ, “Seriously how long has it been?”

“Too long.” JJ was deadpanned when she answered.

Alex interrupted, “Do we know what the case is?”

Rossi turned to her, “Not yet. Hotch just said to drop everything and get back here.”

“You need some private adult time. I’ll watch Henry. No bad guys, no kids, in that order. Go to Mexico. Or the Maldives, maybe.” Garcia said.

“Cruz?”

“Yes! Exactly. A cruise would be perfect.”

“No, no, no. Matt Cruz.” JJ motioned to the platform where Hotch and Cruz were.

Everyone turned to look as well.

“Let’s get started.” Hotch’s voice was stern and didn’t have room for arguing.

Spencer turned to JJ, “If you want Henry can stay with me and Aisling if you and Will need a date night.”

JJ smiled at her best friend, “Thanks Reid. I’ll talk to Will about it.”

They got to the board room and took a seat, Cruz looked to JJ, “How are those ribs?”

“Still hurts when I laugh. You?” JJ asked.

“The scars impress the ladies.” Cruz told her. He turned to Garcia and took the turner from her, “I hope you don’t mind, Ms. Garcia, but I took the liberty of having the much less talented version of you in my office load the case details.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure, no problem.” Garcia had a slight frown on her face in confusion before sitting down.

Cruz looked around the room, “a good friend of mine, sheriff Peter Coleman, down in Briscoe County, Texas reached out to me about a possible case. He’s a former Texas ranger, he’s a good guy.”

They all started to look through the files that had been prepared as Hotch continued with a little more information, “He read our work in the silencer case and is asking for a consult.”

Blake sat back “What do we have?”

Cruz turned to the plasma, “Abigail Jones. Prostitute.” He continued pulling up photos, “She was found in a dumpster last night.”

Rossi sat forward, “What’s that on her wrists?”

Cruz squinted, “It’s, uh…” he started clutching at the remote trying to zoom in. “It’s…it’s…” he finally looked over at Garcia, “Uh, would you mind?”

Garcia sighed, “thank you Jesus, Buddha, and Allah.” She stood from her seat, “I like to cover my bases. You have to squeeze it.”

An image of the victim’s wrist were enlarged for all to see, “Rope burns.”

Cruz looked at the team behind him, “it goes hand in hand with the lacerations on her back.”

JJ didn’t look up from the medical examiners report, “There’s also a gunshot wound to the back of her head execution style.”

Spencer tried to keep his mind on the case and off of his daughter back at his house, “It’s a conflict in M.O. The cutting and restraints point to sexual sadism, but the gunshot wound ends the torture to quickly for a sadist.”

Blake nodded to the screen, “is that the only victim?”

Cruz shook his head, “There’s Hannah Kelly, another prostitute, killed 6 months ago, dumped one jurisdiction over.”

Blake awed, “forensic countermeasure. Smart enough to separate the victims so we won’t tie them together.”

“And practical too. The body was left in hooker row, where they pick up their johns.” Cruz motioned to the screen. “Which brings us to our first victim, Lucas Wagner. Killed 11 moths ago. Multiple arrests for soliciting a prostitute. Found outside of a crack house where some lived.”

Morgan sits back, “He takes a paying customer and drops them where the girls live.”

Rossi nodded along understanding where Morgan was going with his train of thought, “That sends a message that nobody’s safe.”

Hotchner turns to Cruz, “Tell sheriff Coleman we’re on our way.”

They all stood up to go grab their stuff and prepare for the flight.

* * *

The plane had just settled in its course when Spencer’s phone rang. Looking at it he could barely keep the smile off his face, “Hello Lori. How’s Aisling?”

“Missing you. Aisling can you say hi to daddy?”

“Dada!” Aisling squealed over the phone.

“Hi there my little one.” Spencer’s voice soften. “You being a good girl for Lori?”

“Aye.” Aisling said, Spencer could almost see her little head bopping back and forth. “I good girl.”

“Daddy will be home soon. I love you sweetie.”

“Wuv dada.”

After saying goodbye to Lori, Spencer tucked his phone away and turned back to the files at hand.

“How’s Aisling doing, Spence?” JJ asked.

Spencer looked up from his file, “She’s doing really well. Her speech is coming along and she is so interested in everything around her. How is Henry?”

“Good, he wants to be just like his Uncle Spencer and know everything. Asking questions about anything that captures his interest. Which is dinosaurs right now.”

Hotchner looked through his files and called everyone’s attention to the case. JJ noted that all the shootings were matched to a single gun. Indicating that the same person killed all three victims. As they all continued to go through the files and the M.O., Morgan pointed out that there was something missing from the profile. Rossi pointed out that the gunshot wound was the variable that threw it all off.

“It could be part of the psychological torture.” Hotch pointed out.

Reid rubbed at the stubble on his chin, noting that he probably should have shaved before leaving the house, “I’m gonna cut and if you flinch, bang!”

“Ok, lets run with that.” JJ looks at the reports in front of him, “There were 5 cuts on Lucas Wagner, 9 on Hannah and 12 on Abigail. That’s an escalation, sadists definitely do that.”

Blake nods along, “And they get deeper with each victim.”

Reid jumped in, “that’s right. The first cuts were experimental in nature, the latter ones were about maximizing pain.”

“What if its vigilantism?” Rossi wondered aloud, “He’s punishing these woman and their johns. Cleaning up the streets.”

“But why take so long to do it?” Derek countered. “3 victims in 11 months? That’s a substantial cooling-off period.”

Hotch decided to divide duties among his team, “Morgan, you and reid talk to anyone working the streets last night and see if they saw something useful.”

They each nodded their head in understanding as Hotch moved on to the others. When they finally landed Morgan and Reid used the GPS in their government issued vehicles for the bar. They didn’t talk about much as they drove over to the location, though Morgan asked a few more questions about Aisling and how it was going for Reid. Reid knew that his friends worried about him, unlike Hotch he didn’t have any in-laws or like JJ with a husband to watch over his child but he had found someone that was willing to work around his work schedule to help him take care of Aisling. While he might not have had months to acquaint himself with fatherhood like Will or Hotch but he loved Aisling and he would do whatever it took to give her a better childhood then his. Even if later on in life he had to give up the BAU, nothing was more important that his daughter. He told Derek that as they drove, while Derek expressed some sadness at the possibility of losing his friend he also told Reid that he understood that Reid was doing what he thought was best by his child.

They finally pulled into a parking spot and noticed the police car waiting there as well. They got out and the three men began to walk towards the entrance doors of the bars.

“There aren’t too many spots for working girls to go, so this’ll be your best shot.” The deputy explained.

“And you turn a blind eye to what goes on in here?” Derek sounded astounded by this news.

“Agent,” the deputy drawled out, “We only got one bar around here. Monday’s karaoke, Tuesday’s line dancing and the girls are discreet. Can’t hardly tell the professionals from the locals just getting their drink on.” The deputy moved a little ahead of the two agents, “Not to mention, we shut this place down, then what?”

Derek chuckled sightly, “The devil you know kind of thing.”

The deputy held the door, “Exactly.”

They started questioning the bar manager, Dinah, and the few patrons that were there. Reid started asking questions and pointing out pictures of the victims while Derek talked to a young woman across from them. From the quick glance, Spencer could see that the girl was scared. She was keeping her head down and avoiding looking at anyone around her. She was nursing a glass and trying to seem casual about it all. Reid continued to draw attention to him and his questions so that Derek could connect with the girl. Eventually they were finally done and thanked them for their help. As they left, Reid kept going over the answers that they got. It didn’t feel complete almost like something or someone was trying to hide or remain unknown. There was something about this case that had Reid’s stomach twisting in knots. He just hoped that he would see his little dream again.

* * *

The alarm was as annoyingly loud as ever. Reid wanted to groan, he had looked at the files all night before finally falling into an uneasy sleep. Something just wasn’t adding up and he couldn’t find what it was. He was looking through it again once more before Rossi knocked on his room door.

“Another victim. Hotch wants us to head out there and look over the dump site.”

Reid nodded and grabbed his messenger bag before heading out.

“Why don’t you call Lori and see how Aisling is doing.” Rossi recommended to his younger co-worker.

Reid couldn’t stop himself from pulling his phone out immediately. He loves talking to his baby girl. The ringing went twice before someone picked up. “Reid household.”

“Hey Lori it’s me. I got a few minutes can I talk to Aisling.”

“Of course Spencer.”

There was a few minutes of silence before squealing came over the phone. “Dada! Dada!”

“Yeah baby, its daddy. Have you been a good girl for Lori?”

“Aye. I good. Help beckfas.”

“You helped make breakfast. Wow, baby. You’ll have to help me next time, that sound like fun?”

“Aye, I help dada.”

“I love you Aisling. I need you to know that.”

“Wuv dada.”

“Daddy has to go baby. You be good for Lori.”

“K dada. Bye-Bye.”

Rossi didn’t say anything, but he simply smiled at how much Reid had changed since Aisling came into his life. The baby gave Reid something to focus on that wasn’t work. Especially since Maeve’s death, a reason to smile and keep his heart from hardening against the world. It was wonderful to see them together. Reid looked down at his phone when it dinged, “Hotch wants us to pick up Sheriff Coleman.”

“Got it.”

In the city small as this it wasn’t even a deter to pick up the sheriff and continue towards the crime scene. When they finally got there it was to the deputies about to cut the body from the tree. Spencer jumped from the car, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?”

Rossi followed after him. “Don’t disturb the crime scene.”

The deputy looked confused by the reprimand, “we took a bunch of pictures. Just like you ordered us to.”

The sheriff scowled, “I ordered you not to touch a damn thing.”

Reid moved forward and motioned the deputies to back up, “We need to look at this crime scene undisturbed. Do you mind not standing there?”

Everyone backed away allowing the three men to move closer to the victim and see what happened.

“He’s escalated his cuts.” Reid mumbled looking over the victim.

Rossi nodded along, “They’re not only bigger –”

“The cutting was done postmortem. It was the gunshot that killed her.”

This observation seemed to have confused the sheriff, “how can you tell?”

Reid looked back to the sheriff before motioning to the wounds, “The lack of blood flow and scar tissue. If she were alive when this was done, there would have been a lot more blood on her back.”

“Which means this isn’t S&M.” Rossi stated, “This is symbolic.”

“Of what?”

“We’re not sure.”

“Can you guys smell that?” Reid started sniffing around the area.

Rossi scrunched his nose, “lavender.”

Sheriff informed them that that didn’t grow in the area.

“Reid can you look into? We can’t trust the coroner to follow through.” Rossi was a grouch about the last time he had to talk to the coroner.

Reid continued on to the coroner’s office while the others went back to the station, he stood by and watched everything as the doctor went about examining the victim and making sure that it as thorough as it needed to be. Once that was through, he continued searching for what that scent could possibly mean. The team gave the profile while he continued his research, he could hear them outside of the conference room he had commandeered.

He rushed out of the room when he finally made a connection, “Guys, I think I know what the lavender on Tabitha Ryerson’s legs is about. Have you ever heard of spinkard?”

All of the Texas officers were confused.

Hotchner finally answered, informing all those around him, “It’s perfume. Mentioned in the gospel.”

Spencer nodded, “It’s derived from lavender. It’s what Mary Magdalene used to wash Jesus’ feet, which tells us that this unsub’s message is obviously religious in nature.”

JJ spoke aloud, “preacher mills, maybe. He came forward to volunteer information.”

Hotch wanted to scoff, “Well yesterday he said he’d let us know if he had any more information, but apparently he’s changed his mind.”

“Fits the profile.”

“then we’ll put an APB out for him.” Sheriff Coleman was clearly determined to close this case.

The day seemed to drag on until it was almost night. They continued to look for Mills first as a suspect and then as a future victim. No matter how much they searched or how many times they called his number, they never got a response. Driving through the town, it was almost like the preacher had simply disappeared until finally they got a radio call. The static was headache inducing, “I’ve got the suspect headed into el Lobito’s diner. Repeat, I’ve got the suspect headed into el Lobito’s diner.”

Sheriff grabbed his radio, “Copy, deputy. We’re on our way.”

The rest of the team looked at each other, “Blake, you and Reid go with the sheriff. Dave and I will coordinate the response here.”

They were on the move immediately, during this whole time Reid was trying to ignore the nagging feeling in his gut. It took about 10 minutes, ignoring traffic lights, to get to the diner and met up with the deputies that had already made their way to the parking lot surrounding el Lobito’s. they began to formulate a plan of attack. While the sheriff wanted to go a direct route, Blake and Reid started pointing out that setting up a perimeter in case the preacher tried to run.

Before the could start acting, shots rang out in the air. Reid saw that Blake was in the direct line of fire while all the others hit the ground. He propelled himself forward to cover her while they both started moving back behind the car doors. He felt a sharp penetration in the neck and suddenly lost his balance. He reached for his neck and when he drew his hand back and saw the blood. The only thing that he could think about was Aisling.

Reid’s head felt heavy, it rolled from side to side. He could hear Blake, but her voice sounded distant as she yelled. He couldn’t make sense of what she was saying. He tried to speak, tried telling her that he was okay and to focus on the unsub. But there was nothing come out. He could feel his heart start to race, blood was flowing from his wound though there was something pressing down on his neck. His eyes were groggy, but he was able to pry them open enough to see that Blake was sitting in front of him, arms extended. He realized that she was putting pressure on his wound trying to stop the bleed.

His eyes travelled around the area; he knew that Blake was focused on him while the dull sound of bullets racing through the air sounded in the background. There was something, Reid couldn’t tell his head felt so light. Finally there was so many hands on him. He wanted these people to stop touching him. But then the straps came, he fought to crack open his eyes. There were ambulance lights above him. Morgan was sitting off to the side. He had another EMT next to him dapping at his arm. There was blood dripping down his arm. Reid needed to let him know.

He tried to gather his strength, “It sounded like a teakettle.”

Morgan sat forward, “What was that?”

Reid’s eyes fell closed once more as his energy drained from him, “did you hear it? A teakettle whistle.”

“Reid! Reid!”

The EMTs started talking over the agent, “Pressure’s dropping. Pulse is thready. Start a large bore I.V.”

“you gotta help him, man. Come on kid. Stay with me.”

“Agent you’ve got to sit back please.”

“Aisling needs you. She needs her pops.”

There wasn’t a response. Morgan watched with dread as they tried to save his best friend. He needed to let Lori and Aisling know that Reid was having problems. By the time they got to the hospital Reid needed to be rushing into an operating room. Morgan was directed to his own room while waiting for x-rays of where the bullets impacted his vest and stitches from where one of them nicked his arm. He placed a call to Garcia about Reid. She said that she would get in touch with Lori and Aisling.

He sat in his hospital bed not knowing what was going on. It was driving him crazy. Though he wasn’t the only one. JJ and Blake sat out in the waiting area worrying about both of their teammates.

“Spence would have read two books by now.” JJ stressed. She couldn’t stop imaging Aisling, that little two year old girl didn’t deserve to lose her father like this.

Blake grinned without joy, “It should have been me.”

JJ couldn’t let Blake talk all the blame onto herself, “or me or any of us.”

Blake shook her head, “No. No, he pushed me out of the way. If he doesn’t make it –”

“He’ll make it. He has to. He’s too young. He still has to see Aisling off to school and intimidate her first boyfriend. Walk her down the aisle.”

Blake pictured those moments in her mind, “Spencer will stress himself out when Aisling finds herself a boyfriend. That girl has Reid wrapped around her finger.”

“She’s one of the luckiest kids in the world.”

JJ smiled, “yeah. She is the light of Spencer’s life.”

Suddenly as though summoned Aisling came running/toddling with her godmother not far behind. Garcia looked to be out of breath and Cruz was but a few paces behind her. Aisling ran right to JJ wanting to be picked up and hugged. JJ held Aisling tightly, “Looks like you made it.”

Garcia gave each JJ and Blake a hug, “Yeah, we’re not the only one that’s connected and he knows somebody with a plane. How is he doing?”

JJ was quite grim when she said that he was still in surgery.

A nurse came out and stopped to talk to them, “You all can see agent Morgan now.”

They stood there for a few minutes, Blake stepped back a little, “If you don’t mind, I’d really like to stay here.”

JJ and Garcia nodded their heads in understanding. Garcia turned to the little girl in JJ’s arms, “You want to go see Uncle Derek before seeing daddy?”

Aisling held tightly to the fox stuffie in her arms, it was her favorite, she nodded her head slightly before burrowing it into the fur. JJ turned back to Blake, “Call me the second you hear anything.”

Garcia looked at Blake for a second, “Hey,” grabbing her attention, “I’ll be right back okay.”

Blake nodded her head as the group in front of her walked off in the direction that the nurse indicated when she spoke to them.

Derek was talking with Hotchner and Rossi when there was knock at the door, when he called for them to enter he wasn’t expecting his goddaughter to come in with his coworkers and boss. “Someone wanted to see there uncle Derek.” Garcia said as she gently placed the little girl down beside the man on the bed.

“Hey. How’s Reid?” Derek asked as he gathered the little girl into his arms.

“He’s still in surgery.”

Derek scowled he started to tugging at the wires around him before Cruz finally stepped forward, “Hold on a second. Catch me up on what’s going on.”

“the three victims were dead before the shooting started. Lividity had set in and there was no blood spatter.”

“So they weren’t killed there.”

“Yeah and the preacher’s car was clean, so there’s no way he transported bodies in it.”

“So the preacher was framed. Why didn’t he just come clean with you?” Cruz was confused by why Mills would go to such extremes.

Hotch crossed his arms over his chest, “He was a narcissistic sociopath who was cornered, but still thought he could get away. Once he started shooting he made his decision. Coming clean was no longer an option.”

Derek tried thinking back to the shoot out, “Guys, I don’t think he was the first one to shoot. Whoever set him up was there.”

Rossi’s brow furrowed, “That’s ballsy. What makes you think that?”

“Because I’m pretty sure that Reid and I heard the first shots. We were all outside of that dinner.” He looked around at all those gathered, “anybody got any photos?”

Garcia pulled her tablet out of her bag, “yeah. I downloaded the crim scene photos.”

“Okay so me Coleman. Right here.” Derek pointed at an up close photo of a bullet that impacted Coleman. “Where’s my vest? I need to show you something.”

Garcia found Derek’s personal property in a bag in a chair off to the side and pulled the vest out of it and laid it on the bed. Derek pulled it into his lap and pointed out the bullet that hit him, “This is from a Mac-10,” and then pointed back to the picture, “You see how the impact mushrooms out? that’s from a semi-jacketed hydroshock round. It makes a high-pitched scream. I know I heard it and Reid mentioned it in the ambulance on the way here.”

Rossi stared at the image and connected what Derek was saying, “That’s law enforcement issue.”

“Friendly fire?” Cruz questioned.

Derek shook his head, “No. all those cops were shooting into the diner. This round came from the same direction as the preacher.”

Hotch motioned with his hand, “Okay, I don’t know who shot first, but I do know that every victim’s connected to the pool hall.”

“Only one missing is Dinah,” Rossi muttered.

Hotch glared slightly, “Find her.”

While Derek prepared to check out of the hospital and the others headed out to get to the bottom of what ever was going on Garcia and Aisling headed back out into the lobby to wait with Blake. It took them another three coffee breaks before they were finally told anything about Reid. Each were excited when they heard that Spencer was going to be fine as they followed after the doctor, Blake pulled out her phone to call the others and let them know what was going on.

When they got there Reid was still sedated. Blake pulled up a chair while Garcia gently settled Aisling next to her daddy. Even in her sleep Aisling still snuggled as close as she could, while Reid almost appeared to shift slightly to pull her in closer. While they rested and waited for Reid to come to Garcia began looking into the victims once again for any more connections. It wasn’t until the third victim that Garcia was able to find something that they didn’t know previously.

She called Hotch to let him know about Henson begin a CI for one of the deputies. After that there was only the snuffling sounds of Aisling sleeping next to her daddy and the machines attached to Reid. Neither Blake or Garcia were willing to disturb the peace surrounding them knowing that everyone on their team was safe for the moment. Eventually Garcia needed to deal with nature and decided to get Blake another coffee while she was out as well as grabbing a few things that would keep until Spencer woke up. While she was in the cafeteria, Hotchner called her for help.

“Hey Hey Hey! Look who’s awake! Can you tell her she can go now please?” She muttered to Reid as she walked back into the hospital room.

Spencer had barely been awake for more than ten minutes but he had his daughter and Garcia there with him, “I’ll be fine, Alex. Go help the team.”

Alex’s voice was soft as she stood up, “Alright, I’m out of here.” She rested a hand on Aisling’s back “I’m glad you’re awake.”

“Thank you.” Spencer smiled at her.

Garcia slid a tray onto Spencer’s bed table, “Okay. Juice, broth or Jello!”

“Jeyo!!!” Aisling screeched.

Spencer smiled at his daughter, “Well the lady speaks. Jello it is.”

* * *

Once Spencer ate the jello while sharing a little bit with Aisling, they each settled back down to sleep. They each gripped the other, keeping a hold of their precious person. Spencer had moved Aisling to rest her head on his chest since he discovered that hearing his heartbeat was soothing to her when she was in unfamiliar settings. When the clicking of Garcia’s heels hurried into his room, Spencer woke up groggily.

“What’s going on?” Spencer asked sluggishly.

Garcia tried to smile reassuringly, “It’s nothing. We’re just gonna put you in a wheelchair and exit as calmly as possible.”

Spencer held Aisling tightly to his chest as Garcia guided him towards a wheelchair. Spencer kept a hold of Aisling and tried to get comfortable, what with the pain meds wearing off and his neck feeling like its on fire. He didn’t pay attention to Garcia, though the fire alarm sounds moments later and sending everyone in the hospital into a panic. They made their way out of the hospital and tried to hid in the crowd, though Garcia didn’t do to well with blending in. They were outside for close to 30 minutes while the rest of the hospital was swept for any patients left behind or any real fire. Eventually they allowed everyone back into the building, keeping an eye out for the deputy Garcia called Morgan.

“I think he’s gone and they’re letting us back in…I lost a few karma points but I did it…okay.” Garcia sighed in relief as they resettled Spencer in bed. Aisling was a little fussy at all the movement but finally calmed down when Garcia handed her back over to her dad. She fluffed the covers around both of her babies. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just really tired.” Spencer sounded tired that was for sure.

“Of course you are. You need to get some sleep.” Garcia said, but then a nurse came in and Garcia sighed, “But how can you rest when people are always poking you.” She was confused by the nurse, “He had his meds an hour ago.”

“Yeah, post-op antibiotics.”

“He had those too.” Garcia tried to argue.

Spencer was suspicious as well, “Which ones? Carbenicillin? That not right. I’ve severely allergic to Beta Lactams.”

The nurse continued without a pause, “Not in your charts.” He reached for the IV and started to push down on the plunger. Spencer reached out to smack the syringe and pull the IV from his hand.

“What are you doing!”

When the nurse bent over to pick up the dropped syringe, there in his waist band Spencer noted aloud, “Garcia he has a gun!”

Spencer tried to move away as much as he could while Garcia was fumbling through Spencer’s personal belongings.

BANG!

Spencer covered Aisling’s ears and pushed her head into his chest making sure she didn’t see what was happening. Spencer started cooing at his daughter, while Derek ran in with his gun drawn and Garcia was trembling and muttering to herself. “He’s moving. Okay. I didn’t know how loud…I can’t hear except for my heart. Feels like its gonna come out.”

Garcia looked away from the man she shot to spencer, “Can that happen?”

Spencer gently placed a hand on top of Garcia’s which was still holding the gun and took it from him carefully. “Physically, can your heart burst out of your chest? And what is this ringing? My ears don’t pop for like a week after I fly and if this is like that, that’s gonna drive me bonkers. Am I yelling? Because it feels like I might be yelling.”

“You saved my life.” Spencer said it gently, “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard that. That makes it better. Thanks for saying that.”

“Thank you for doing it.” Spencer looked from Garcia to Aisling that was clinging to her daddy. “Thank you for giving me another day with my daughter.”

Garcia looked down at her goddaughter as well. Suddenly she threw herself at both Spencer and Aisling, “You’re okay. You’re okay.” She muttered as she hugged both of them.

Spencer just let her hug them without saying anything. He was okay, so was his team and now they just needed to get home.


End file.
